Bollywood director Vivek Agnihotri is known for giving explosive statements about the film industry. After having made movies like Chocolate, Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal and Hate Story, he has decided to disjoin himself from the glamour world. He is right now focusing on making relatively low-budget films with no A-listers. His last movie The Kashmir Files got a great response from all over the nation for its honest nationalist narrative. Not just critical views, the film also did wonders on the box office.
In a recent interview, the filmmaker opened up about various aspects of the current Boycott culture that Bollywood is facing. On being asked to put forward his views on it, Vivek said, “It’s a complex issue, and calling for a boycott is fundamentally an individual thing. I feel the ‘Boycott Bollywood’ campaign is extremely good as it shows people’s frustration with the kind of films that Bollywood is producing, and its end result will be very positive.”
When prodded about the boycott trend being an attack of right-wing people, Agnihotri disagreed and stated, “It’s more of a cultural revolt against Bollywood than a political one. But when there is a conflict, politicians will use that. Let’s assume your theory of the right-wing machinery boycotting Bollywood is correct. Let’s take the example of Aamir Khan’s ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’. Narendra Modi got 40% of the votes. Let’s take that 40% audience out, where are the rest of the 60% audience and why aren’t they watching Aamir’s film? Does it mean all Aamir fans become Modi fans? Kashmiri Muslims, Bengalis, and south Indians have problems with Bollywood because of their bad representation. Bollywood films make fun of the middle class who are their buyers, and they think people are dumb. Unlike south Indian film stars, Bollywood stars are not connected with people, and they behave as if they are ‘Gods’. The subjects of south Indian, Marathi, Bengali, Odia and other cinema resonate with the masses.”
When questioned about his upcoming films, Vivek divulged that his next film is on a ‘great achievement’ of India, and after that, he is making ‘The Delhi Files’ for which extensive research is being done.